For local development to install Apache, MySQL, PHP:
apt-get install apache2 php5 libapache2-mod-php5 mysql-server mysql-client php5-mysql phpmyadmin
Configuration files are in /etc e.g.
/etc/apache2
/etc/php5
/etc/mysql
/etc/phpmyadmin
Deamons are started by default so just visit http://localhost
An alternative is to use Tasksel:
sudo tasksel install lamp-server